Deltics...Renumbered?
 

I was told today of a rumour that a deltic had been seen in 1980/81 after it had been scrapped. Of course, the only way that that could have happened is if one of the survivors was given the identity of one of those already scrapped. I was given no other details at all.

Has anyone else heard of this?

If this is the story I think it is, the loco was 55020 Nimbus. It's well known as a railway ghost story. I've heard two versions of this, one where it was seen hauling a train along the East Coast, and another where it was spotted outside Crewe Station.

It's in the "Strategic reserve" to replace the steam locos that were cut up !:D

55020 'Nimbus'? It got preserved in 1981. I saw it at Old Oak Common open day in 1996. Not sure who owns it or where it is currently based...but it definitely survived.

I'll google it and tell you where it lives.

Wikipedia would suggest otherwise http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/British_Rail_Class_55

55020/D9020 Nimbus was withdrawn on 5th January 1980, and scrapped. Sorry to disappoint you.

Nimbus definitely exists I saw it with my own eyes. I thought that was common knowledge?

I might be wrong but I think it's stored at MoD Ashchurch in an aircraft hanger, but i'm still researching it.

p.s.
Everybody knows Wikipedia is a complete joke. No offense but you should stop being so lazy and learn how to conduct a proper research.

I'm sorry to disappoint you, but Nimbus was cut up. Below is a paragrpah that I copied from the Deltic Preservation Societys website.

The first two Deltics to be withdrawn were 55001 'St Paddy' and 55020 'Nimbus' on January 5th 1980, although neither of these locos had worked since March 1978. Both were cut up by the end of the month. The next casualty was 55003 'Meld' which was withdrawn on 30th December 1980 at York followed by 55005 and 55006 in February 1981 at York. 55012 ‘Crepello’ was next being withdrawn at FP on May 18th followed by 55018 ‘Ballymoss at York on October 18th.

How do you know it was cut up? Were you there? Did you watch them do it with your own eyes?

Sorry to disappoint YOU but I saw it and it survives to this day. Back in 1981 before Wikipedia, internet forums, websites, mobile phones AND preservation societies, it's not inconceivable that a loco earmarked for scrapping slipped through the net and got purchased by a rich enthusiast, without too many people knowing about it.

I'm really surprised nobody on this forum is backing me up!

I'm gonna prove this thing exists and then i'll hunt you all down so you can buy me a beer.

I would love you to be right !:D

It is quite common practice in preservation for preserved members of a class to run as another long scraped fellow. Ian Riley's Black Five 45407 has often run as long scraped 45157 The Glasgow Highlander. I have several photos to prove it!

Best wishes,

John H-T.

For what it's worth, and I must emphasise that I have no particular interest in whether or not another "parrafin can" escaped the torch: as a steam supporter these things are totally beneath me, the 1982 publication by the Diesel and Electric Group "Locomotive Directory. Every one there has ever been" gives the details for 55021 as cut up at Doncaster 01/1980; out of use for some two years previously.
This info was published before wikipedia, internet forums, websites, and mobile phones. BUT NOT BEFORE PRESERVATION SOCIETIES! The Deltic Preservation Society was a going concern back then and well clued up on what was happening, the cutting up of the first two 55's really spurred them in to action to raise the necessary funds.

Amused, 62440.:rolleyes:

Ok, I'll start with this and get back to you with more. http://www.flickr.com/photos/cookeph...hy/2278561044/

There's this too. Check the background and the caption. http://neil-gibson.fotopic.net/p54079839.html

And this. Hope this helps. http://www.railblue.com/timeline.htm#1980

Call me an old fashioned pessimist, but I reckon that last photo rather clinches it. :-(

I would say that those pictures provide quite conclusive proof.

Head.Nail.Hit. :D

Adam, what story have you heard about this? All that I can find is a vague reference to two people seeing Nimbus enter Hadley Wood tunnel a few months after it was cut up.

I've found stories of long scrapped Westerns being noted on the rails as well. Wonder what is going on here?:confused:

I note that the wikipedia page on class 55's "Was last edited on 8/12/2009 at 18:16".

You certainly can't trust it when anyone with the necessary know-how can go on there and edit it. It says that 55020 is preserved at MOD Ashchurch awaiting restoration too.

Dubious!

Suspicious, 62440.:(

Altering the data like that with totally unconfirmed information is a BAD move, and just damages (even more ) the reputation of the whole Wilipedea database.

I did not realise that just anyone can alter the Wikipedia data.:D:D

That's the basics of the one I've heard Trev. It's in a book called Railway Ghosts and Phantoms, written by W B Herbert. I'd check the details in that, but I've lent my copy to a friend in Cumbria, so this is all from memory. Basically, two spotters, who where clued up on the happenings of the ECML, where surprised to hear a Deltic approaching Hadley Wood, and when it came past they both thought that it was carrying the number 55020, which they both knew had already been scrapped. So they went to the station to see if they could shed some light on the issue, but the station staff informed them that there had been no trains through for 15 minutes, or something like that. If anyone has a copy of the book to hand, can they just confirm I've got that right, or post corrections if not please?

Why is it bad? Wikipedia has confirmed that Nimbus does actually exist! As for all those photo's of deltic noses....they could belong to any deltic.

No, it hasn't. You yourself, in this very thread indeed, criticised the accuracy of wikipedia, saying "Everybody knows Wikipedia is a complete joke. No offense but you should stop being so lazy and learn how to conduct a proper research." And also, whilst the nose could theoretically be from any Deltic, the body work shown in the second photo (http://neil-gibson.fotopic.net/p54079839.html) clearly shows the cabside number 55020, which was the TOPS number for Nimbus.

I would love to buy you a beer if you prove it exists .good luck with your hunting

Rassy,Why would anybody save Nimbus or for that matter St Paddy,both had be out of service since 1978 and had been used for spare parts,if anybody wanted to save a Deltic without anybody else knowing I'am sure there were much better locos than those two.
Please let us know when you find Nimbus,not that I want to see it,I want to search the field next door for that other missing 80s racehorse- Shergar!!!!

Cheers John

I reckon Rassy is trying a "wind up" on here. Rather than using wikipedia which anyone can alter for their own purposes, try looking on the Deltic Preservation Society website, the full list of surviving machines and their whereabouts is on there, the three they own and two cabs, and under FAQ, the other three.

Unconvinced, 62440.:p

And why not try this one?
http://www.flickr.com/photos/29126266@N00/2147082316/

I have had a reply from the MOD regarding the Deltic at Ashchurch.

Quote "" Thank you for your correspondence received via the Ministry of Defence website enquiring about whether an ex British Railway class 55 (Deltic class) main line diesel locomotive is stored at Ashchurch awaiting restoration and preservation. I have been asked to reply as Defence Equipment and Support is responsible for the Defence Storage and Distribution Agency at Ashchurch.

I can confirm that the site at Ashchurch is not storing/restoring a Class 55 locomotive.

Yours sincerely""

Unquote

it wont be in a hanger at ashchurch, i used to work for a contractor that had access to ashchurch, no locos there!!!!

too much time in the pub an hour or two before??

it does, it works for chiltern in the form of 121020!!!!!:D

Hi everyone,

I have been trawling the internet & talking to numerous people about 55020 Nimbus......and I have uncovered some strange news about 'a' Deltic, but can't confirm if it is Nimbus.......

Should I write it here or start a new thread????

Why not here ! Seems the logical place.:D

Are you sitting comfortably?.....yes?....Then I shall begin!

First I emailed several different departments of the MoD to verify the Ashchurch story. They never replied.

Then I spent hours & hours searching th internet and found nothing new. Apart from a man claiming he saw 55020 run light engine through Derby station in 1992.

Then I spoke to my great uncle who is a retired engine driver. He said he didn't know anything about it, but he had an old railway friend who worked at Swindon Works as an engineer. This morning my uncle called to say he'd spoken to his pal and this is what he had to say:

A year before the Deltics were due to be withdrawn, BR offered the entire fleet to a number of foreign railways. Shortly after the Doncaster Works 'final gathering', a single Deltic was selected from the fleet and shipped to mainland Europe. He does not know which Deltic or the specific foreign railway it was sent to, but he is 100% sure that a Deltic definitely went abroad.

A few weeks after it's arrival in Europe, the foreign railway in question took one look at the beast and decided not to purchase the whole fleet. As a result, BR brought forward the offical Deltic scrapping date, and the rest as they say, is history.

But this is the really interesting bit.....my uncle's friend swears blind that BR did not ship the Deltic back to blighty for scrapping because the cost would be treble that of the scrap price. It sorta became a white elephant for BR and lay abandoned on a foreign railway for 5 years until it was purchased by a 'private owner'. This, he is also 100% sure of.

Before you say anything, please remember the man who told my uncle all this informaion is 86 years old and was struggling to remember all the specific details. I pressed my uncle for more information but that was all he had to say.

My question is: Is there anybody on this forum who worked at Doncaster works around this time, or in the BR offices who can confirm this story?

So why didn't "The Foreign Railway In Question" do what the Dutch Railways did BEFORE they purchased the class 77's, and send the relevant people over to see and experience the Deltics in action on their own stamping grounds? It would have been much cheaper than supposedly shipping a loco abroad. And it would have made your tale that much more believable than the load of old cobblers you've come up with this time. Your story is full of holes, not least of which is the bit about the final gathering. The "Whole Fleet" did not exist at the time of the final gathering, scrapping was well under way and had been since the first withdrawals.

Fallin' about Laffin', 62440.

There was the 4000HP diesel HS4000 that BR sold to Russia in 1971.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/British_Rail_HS4000

That's the only one I could think of.

Dude i'm just telling you what someone told someone I know, that's all! He's an 86 year old who spent his entire working life on the railways...so what does he know? I'm so glad you came along to straighten him out.

I think pre65 has it the locomotive called "Kestrel" is what went not a Deltic 62440 is also correct I was at the last Deltic gathering and some had already gone to the cutters torch.

Rassy! DON'T Call me DUDE!
Please stick to the forum protocol, 62440 is my "Handle".

As far as I am concerned, the only person getting straightened out is the person who put hearsay on here and expects us to accept it as fact. The cutting up history of the Deltics was published way before the internet came along or any of the I.T. stuff. People used to visit Doncaster Works and see these machines being cut up, some would visit on a weekly basis, photographs would be taken, the evidence exists. Please keep these flights of fancy to yourself, you do your own credibility no good at all.

62440.

In the latest steam railway mag There is a book advertised called "Shadows in the steam-The haunted Railways of britain" and guess what Nimbus is mentioned .

You guys don't get many trolls on here do you?

A troll is somebody who intentionally spends time going against the general concensus, posting in a controversial (and sometimes insulting) manner, with the sole intention of trying to provoke reactions out of people on internet chat rooms, forums, online video games, etc. etc. for either their own ammusement, or because they're completely insane.

I would suggest Mr. Rassy here may have signed up for this reason and, as such, I would stop giving him any air time, otherwise it'll go on forever.

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On the topic at hand though, I have to admit the idea of a ghost train, while lying here in the dark on my laptop, is quite a thought provoking one. I think trains are one of the few objects that kinda work as a ghost story because to some they're so full of life, and when they die they do seem to be "dead".

I would love to read more on the topic.